Traffic to UCSD

[phishee]

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Hey guys,
I have an interview at UCSD and want to know how the traffic is. I'm coming from Long Beach and google maps says it takes 91 minutes. But as all Californians know this is the minimum travel time. How long did it take everyone to get to La Jolla? Did you drive the morning of or did you stay the night before?
Thanks!

 

[notdeadyet]

Hey guys,
I have an interview at UCSD and want to know how the traffic is. I'm coming from Long Beach and google maps says it takes 91 minutes. But as all Californians know this is the minimum travel time. How long did it take everyone to get to La Jolla? Did you drive the morning of or did you stay the night before?
Thanks!

Yikes. It matters a lot what time you interview is in La Jolla, but it's regularly taken me 90 minutes to get from Huntington Beach to La Jolla.

The problem is once you get to south Orange County, you'll hit the 5 and it's the only freeway for a long time until you get to the campus. All it takes is one traffic accident or any of the other mysteries that tie up traffic on that road.

I'd strongly suggest staying there the night before. The 5 down there really is one of the most unpredictable traffic routes in the state.

 

[instigata]

I drive from LA (home) to La Jolla (school) every other week. I could tell you this..don't leave after 11:30 AM and you SHOULD make it to La Jolla within 90 minutes. I'm sure that won't be a problem though because the interview day starts at 8 AM. However, you will have to deal with the intense morning traffic until about 7:30 AM. If I was you, I would leave at like 5 AM. You will get to SD by 6:30, but at least you will be early and not late. You don't want to take any chances.

 

[mediocriskid]

North county traffic can be an utter nightmare in the morning. I would arrive in La Jolla the night before (like the person above has suggested), considering you have to be at the Admissions Office by 8am and may start interviewing at 9am. Arrange to stay with a student if you don't want to pay for a hotel.

 

[greg567]

I live in la jolla, went to ucsd and used to do the drive to la about once a month for a few years.... what could take you about 20 minutes to get from carlsbad to la jolla (normally 20 mins) can take up to an hour. lots of people commute from all areas of san diego into la jolla in the morning -- if i were you, i would priceline a hotel in or around la jolla, you could probably score one for 50-60 bucks for even a nice one! don't count on making it there for an 8am interview day in a 90 minute travel time. good luck with the interview!

 

[Dancer77]

I would HIGHLY recommend staying there the night before... it makes the entire morning pass by more smoothly. LA-OC-SD traffic is very unpredictable, and is often times a nightmare.

That said, GOOD LUCK AT YOUR INTERVIEW! 🙂

 

[socal78]

it took me 5hrs once to get back to san diego from LA.

 

[shnjb]

I'm going down tomorrow from LA.
I sure hope there is no accident tomorrow...

 

[yesindeed]

Random: What Time Did Your Dartmouth Interview Day Begin And End??

 

[JennyB]

I'm going down tomorrow from LA.
I sure hope there is no accident tomorrow...

If you're going today, there probably won't be any of the normal traffic, but yeah, pray for no accidents! It's taken me 3 hours to get from LA to Laguna (~60 miles) when I left around 2pm. Luckily, I've noticed that if you're going south from LA/OC in the morning, you're usually going against the traffic, so it shouldn't take too long. There are a lot of people who drive north to get to work. Take the 73 so you can skip some of the OC traffic. It's like 3 or 4 bucks, but it's definitely worth it. You take it around South Coast Plaza on the 405 and it lets you off just south of Mission Viejo on the 5, so you skip all of the traffic when the 405 and 5 merge. I love the drive to San Diego...it's so pretty!!! Hopefully it won't be too overcast when you're driving to your interview. Good luck!!!

 

[phishee]

Thanks everyone! I guess I better start looking up hotels...so much for saving money for in state interviews🙄